Greenland's Viking Settlers Gorged on Seals

Posted on November 27, 2012

Archaeologists says Norse Vikings settled Greenland about 500 years ago and then disappeared. New research indicates that the Vikings gorged on seals while living in Greenland. Researchers at the University of Copenhagen's Laboratory of Biological Anthropology conducted an isotopic analysis of the bones 80 Norse skeletons and found seals made up as much of 80% of their diet. The above photograph shows archaeologists digging up the skeletons at Igaliku Fjord in Greenland in 2010.

Jan Heinemeier, Institute of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, said in a news release, "Even though the Norse are traditionally thought of as farmers, they adapted quickly to the Arctic environment and the unique hunting opportunities. During the period they were in Greenland, the Norse ate gradually more seals. By the 14th century, seals made up between 50 and 80 per cent of their diet."

Some of the theories about why the Norse Viking vanished from Greenland include natural disasters and climate change, but it is possible the Vikings left after becoming bored of the seal diet.

Niels Lynnerup of the University of Copenhagen says, "Nothing suggests that the Norse disappeared as a result of a natural disaster. If anything they might have become bored with eating seals out on the edge of the world. The skeletal evidence shows signs that they slowly left Greenland. For example, young women are underrepresented in the graves in the period toward the end of the Norse settlement. This indicates that the young in particular were leaving Greenland, and when the numbers of fertile women drops, the population cannot support itself."

ARCHAEOLOGY